On This Lonely Barricade
by t0infinityandbey0nd
Summary: Eponine was lost without love. Enjolras never thought he needed it. How did this unlikely pair come together before the Barricade? E/E with some hints of M/C
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Prologue

Eponine Thenardier wandered down the uneven stone streets of Paris, the hem of her tattered dress gently brushing against the ground. Today, she had tried her best to smooth down her normally matted, chocolate brown hair and smooth out some of the wrinkles and tears in her dress. The reason behind this was because she wanted to look her best for her best friend, Marius Pontmercy.

The two of them seemed an odd pair, as Eponine was a gamine, her father the leader of Paris's most feared gang, the Patron-Minette, And Marius was a privileged Bourgeois boy. Eponine was not ashamed to admit that lately her feelings for Marius had turned to more than friendship. She regretfully knew that Marius would never reciprocate her feelings for him, but then again, you cant choose who you fall in love with.

A/N: I know this is really short, but it'll get longer as it goes on!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Marius caught the eye of Eponine from across the street. When she saw him, her features brightened and the corners of her mouth turned up in a grin. She pushed past people in the crowd in order to get to him.

"Hello M'sieur" she said quietly to Marius.

Marius jokingly rolled his eyes at her "You know you don't have to call me that, 'Ponine." He said.

Eponine just shrugged her shoulders. "It suits you"

Marius gave a small laugh that nearly made Eponine giggle before taking her by the arm to the other side of the square. He started to say something about his plans for later that day when something caught his attention and his eyes grew glassy. A confused Eponine followed his line of sight to see him staring at a pretty, blonde bourgeois girl. Eponine blinked in surprise as she recognized the girl. It was Cosette, the girl who Eponine's parents had been terrible to in her childhood.

_ No,_ Eponine thought, _Dear God, Please not this._

Marius tugged on her sleeve, not letting his gaze drift from the other girl.

"Eponine, who was that girl?" Marius sounded like he was having trouble catching his breath. Eponine scoffed at the boy "I presume you mean the Lark? Her name is Cosette."

Marius's face lit up at the gamine's words. "Do you suppose you could find her for me?" he eagerly asked.

Eponine pondered over his question. As much as she hated to be thought of as just 'Marius's errand girl' , she would do anything to see him happy. So she put on a smile, despite her pain, and said "I'd be happy to"

A/N: I know this one is also kind of short, but I'm just getting warmed up! It will get longer as it goes on! And please give feedback J


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

A broken hearted Eponine silently trailed behind Cosette and her father. In order to make Marius happy, she was to find out where she lived so that he could be with his beloved. Eponine suddenly felt a lone, silent tear drop down her face. She quickly swatted it away with the back of her hand. Now was not the time for her to cry.

She watched as the pair arrived on an ornate, stone house. Now that she knew where Cosette lived, she could head back to the Musain to report it to Marius. Eponine had just turned around to leave when she felt a hand grab her shoulder. She was about to let out a shriek before she met the eyes of the one who had grabbed her: Cosette's father.

"Would you care to explain to me why you have been following my daughter and I?" he asked her calmly.

Eponine looked up at him with wide eyes. "I-I was d-doing a favor for a friend, M'sieur." She said to him while trying to keep her voice even.

With these words, the man's facial expressions changed to a thoughtful look. "And would you be so kind as to tell me the name of this friend?"

"Marius Pontmercy."

His eyes widened. He knew there would be a day when Cosette would have a lover, but he had not expected it to be so soon. And frankly, he did not like the idea of it at all.

"Thank you, Mademoiselle." He reached into his pocket to take out money for her. Eponine gently shook her head

"I don't need your money, M'sieur." She said to him. In reply, she felt the light weight of paper being pressed into her hand.

"I insist. Consider it a thank you. You told me everything I needed to know" he said with a kind smile.

A bright smile came over Eponine's features. "Thank you very much, M'seiur." She said before leaving to head back to Marius.

On her way back, she took out the money Cosette's father had given her and looked at the amount. Her jaw nearly dropped to the ground. The man had given her forty Francs! She knew that she would never be able to repay his kindness to her. Trying to get over the guilt biting at her heart, she turned the corner that led to the Musain.

Even from the bottom floor, she could hear the sounds from upstairs: namely, a drunk Grantaire yelling profanities and everyone trying to settle him down. As she walked up the stairs, she could tell that the room had grown silent because someone was giving a speech. Being careful not to draw attention to herself, Eponine silently slid into an empty chair that was close to the back of the room.

Now, she could pay attention to the blonde man who was giving the speech. Anyone could see his passion through his icy blue eyes. Even Eponine, who was not easily swayed, felt exhilarated by his words. At what she presumed to be the conclusion of his speech, nearly everyone in the room stood up and shouted "_Vive La France!"_

Now that everyone was starting to disperse, Eponine made her way to Marius. "Marius, I found her" she stated to him. His eyes widened and a look of pure delight came across his face.

"That's wonderful 'Ponine!" he said. Their conversation was interrupted when they heard someone clear their throat. Eponine turned around to see the blonde man who gave the speech. When his ice blue eyes met Eponine's chocolate brown ones, both of them felt as if they could not look away.

"And who might this be, Marius? I do make it my business to know everyone at the meetings, after all." The blonde man said. Marius stepped in between him and Eponine.

"How rude of me! Enjolras, this is Eponine," Marius gestured to her. "'Ponine, this is our 'fearless leader', Enjolras."

Enjolras gave her small nod "Pleasure to meet you, Mademoiselle" he said to her

"Likewise. You may just call me Eponine, though, M'sieur." She said.

Enjolras said "If I am to call you Eponine, than you can call me Enjolras."

Eponine smiled at him. "Sounds like a deal, Enjolras."

A/N: please review!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

After the meeting, Marius had stayed behind to chat with his friends. He did not want Eponine to walk home by herself, as the streets of Paris were dangerous at night. But Eponine, as stubborn as she was, insisted that she would be alright on her own.

She heard gruff, male voices coming from the side of the building, and she instantly knew who it was: her father and the rest of the _Patron-Minette._ She barely had time to curse under her breath before her father saw her.

Before Eponine had time to register what was happening, Thenardier had grabbed her roughly by the waist and pulled her to where the gang was standing. He put his hands on her shoulders and gruffly pulled her close to him.

"Where's the money, girl?" he venomously whispered. Eponine thought about the forty francs, but decided not to give it to him. The greedy pig would just use it to gamble, anyways. Eponine took a deep breath.

"I didn't bring home any money, Papa." She said

Thenardier's face turned brick red and he looked like he could strangle Eponine. He grabbed her shoulders again and violently pulled her forwards.

"You. Stupid. Girl!" he roared. "I swear, if this happens again it's off to the Docks with you!"

Eponine nearly shuddered at his words. Everyone knew what happened at the Docks: It was where prostitutes went to make a living. Thankfully, Thenardier hadn't been heartless enough to send Eponine or her sister there. Yet.

Montparnasse stepped forward with a sly grin on his face. He clapped Thenardier on the back. "I told you should've sent 'er there years ago." He said. This time, he advanced toward Eponine.

"I would've paid quite a sum for this one." He whispered to her. Eponine was disgusted. Montparnasse used to be one of her best friends. Until her father asked him to join the _Patron-Minette_, that is. He'd never been the same after that.

She didn't hesitate to slap him across the face. The sound of the palm of her hand connecting with his cheek echoed in the alleyway. He stood there for a moment, stunned, before turning to Thenardier and saying. "This one needs to be disciplined, Boss."

Thenardier took out a small but lethally sharp knife out of his coat pocket. He gave a nod to Montparnasse. He nodded back to the older man and put his gloved hand over Eponine's mouth. Her eyes widened and she tried to get out of her father's grasp. However, Thenardier was much stronger and had no trouble holding Eponine down.

He rolled up her sleeve and proceeded to carve deep scratches in her right arm. She felt tears welling up in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She would not give her father the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

He moved on to her left arm now. When Eponine felt the first deep cut into her arm, she nearly passed out, but Montparnasse kept holding her up. After nearly ten excruciating minutes, he was finally done. Eponine could hardly see through her clouded vision as Thenardier stepped back to admire his handiwork.

Eponine used her last bit of strength to mutter "You haven't broken me yet, you bastards."

That was the final straw for Thenardier. He stepped forward again and quickly made a long, horizontal slice in Eponine's abdomen. The girl let out a small, sharp cry before falling to the ground.

Seeing as their work was complete, the gang left the small alleyway, leaving Eponine there to bleed.

From an upstairs window in the Musain, Gavroche heard a cry come from outside. It was strange, it sounded vaguely familiar…yet he could not place who the voice belonged to.

Suddenly, it clicked: Eponine, his sister! Gavroche jumped out of his seat and grabbed Combeferre's arm.

"Come with me. There's something I have to check on" the young boy said. Combeferre nodded, not caring for an explanation. Gavroche led him to the small alley that was next to the Musain. His eyes widened when he saw a figure laying down with a small pool of blood.

"Eponine!" Gavroche cried out. He was frustrated and worried when he didn't get a response. Combeferre ran to the girl and looked over the wound in her stomach.

"She's lost a lot of blood, Gav" he said. He gently lifted up her sleeves to inspect the wounds on her arms. His eyes widened when he saw what was there.

"Gavroche." He whispered to the boy, beckoning him to look at her arms. Gavroche let out a small choked sound and a whimper.

"We've got to get her to Joly, Combeferre." He said. Combeferre nodded gently and scooped the small girl into his arms. He hoped that they weren't too late.

The two boys brought Eponine up the stairs to be looked at by Joly. Gavroche quickly grabbed Joly, who was in the middle of a conversation with Enjolras, to come to the table to help Eponine. Sensing the concern in the young boy, Enjolras also went over to the table with Joly.

Joly's eyes turned as wide as saucer's when he saw the deep cut in Eponine's abdomen. He turned to Combeferre.

"Run to my flat and get my medical bag. It has the bandages that I'm going to need in it." Joly said. Combeferre nodded and hurried out the door.

Joly was gently dabbing at her wound with a wet cloth, trying to clean away some of the blood. He was stopped when both Gav and Enjolras were trying to get his attention.

"There's something else you should look at, Joly." Gavroche pulled up both of Eponine's sleeves to reveal two large words carved into her arms: BRAT and TRAITOR

A/N: don't forget to review!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Enjolras nervously paced around the upper floor in the Musain. He found that his gaze kept drifting to the small brunette lying on the table. Joly had said that her wound was healing and that she was doing alright, Eponine still hadn't woken up. Enjolras couldn't stop the feeling of nervous concern from building in his chest. He just assumed it was the general grief that one felt when something bad happened, but he couldn't help feeling that there was something more to it than just that…

_Stop it,_ he said to himself. He had only known Eponine for a day! He had made a vow to remain loyal to France, to his Patria, and Enjolras couldn't let anything get in the way of that.

He jumped at a rustling sound in the room. Enjolras whipped his head to see Eponine trying to sit up. He quickly rushed to her side.

"Be still, Eponine." He said, "Joly advises that you try to not move around as much until your wounds have healed."

"Well, that would have been nice to know." She grumbled, trying to ignore the painful throbbing in her skull. Enjolras attributed her moodiness to her injuries, so he decided to let her snide remark go.

"Eponine, what-what happened last night?" he asked her.

She took a shaky breath. "My father caught me as I left last night" she began, "He was angry that I had not brought back any money. That's all I am to him…a way to make a few Francs." She gave a humorless laugh at her last sentence.

Enjolras's eyes grew cold. "That's not a way to treat a lady." He stated. Eponine just waved off his anger.

"He wasn't always like that, Enjolras. Back when my family still possessed the inn, he was almost a decent man. It was only when we were forced on the streets that he turned this vicious." She said almost sadly.

Enjolras blinked in surprise. "I'm sorry to hear that, Eponine." He awkwardly patted her hand. Eponine shook her head at the blonde man.

"Don't be." She said before giving a small yawn and going back to sleep.

Enjolras waited until he was sure that Eponine was completely out. Then he began to talk. "I'm sorry you had to go through all that, 'Ponine. I knew you had it hard, but I had no idea it was like that." He paused for a moment "I always thought that my life was rough, but I've hardly endured anything compared to you. When I was younger, I would complain about what we were eating for supper, whereas you were probably wishing that you had something to eat." He shook his blonde curls. " If only I would've known who I had been fighting for back then…I probably would have acted differently.

He continued his oration " 'Ponine, you're one of the bravest people I have ever met. Whether you realize it or not, you are worth much more than all those petty Bourgeois girls. I know that you can't hear me right now, but I just had to get that off of my mind."

Enjolras quickly left the room, not wanting to say anything else. Although, he had to admit, it did feel good to say those things, Even though he knew Eponine couldn't have been listening.

In the upstairs room, Eponine smiled to herself while a teardrop rolled down her tan cheek. Although Enjolras did not know it, Eponine had heard every word he said.

**A/N: Yes, Yes, I know it was a fluffy chapter, but heyyy, Fluff is good sometimes! Anyways, please review! It would mean so much to me! J**


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